NASDAQ Closes at 6-Year High

After showing a strong upward move in
morning trading, the U.S. stock markets continue to perform well in the early
afternoon. The major averages all remain firmly in positive territory,
benefiting from broad based strength.

The Dow closes once again in record territory. Leading the blue chip
index today were Microsoft
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) with a gain of 3.6% and AT&T
(
T |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) with a
gain of 2%.

The NASDAQ also made new 6-year highs closing at 2,489. Leading the
NASDAQ 100 index today was video game maker Activision
(
ATVI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Intuitive
Surgical
(
ISRG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) with gains of 4.8% and 4.2%.

The price of oil saw substantial
volatility during trading on Thursday, bouncing back and forth across the
unchanged line. Crude for February delivery eventually ended the session down
$2.14 at $51.88 a barrel, its worst closing level since May of 2005.

After showing a lack of direction
throughout much of the trading session, the price of gold eventually ended
Thursday’s trading modestly higher. Gold for February delivery closed up $0.50
at $613.90 an ounce.

Stocks on the Move

Genentech
(
DNA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q4 Earnings Soar On Sale Of Cancer Drugs, Lucentis;
EPS Beats View (full
story). DNA shares jump 4.4%.

Goldman Sachs
(
GS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Has Risen To An Historic High (full
story). GS shares rise by 2%.

Cisco
(
CSCO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Sues Apple
(
AAPL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) For IPhone Trademark
Infringement (full
story). CSCO shares finish the day flat, while AAPL shares lose
1.2%.

Lear
(
LEA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Sees Higher Sales In FY07; Stock Upbeat (full
story). LEA shares jump 15%.

BorgWarner
(
BWA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Sees FY07 Earnings Growth Of Over 10% (full
story). BWA shares rise by over 10%.

Infosys
(
INFY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q3 EPS Soars On Strong Revenues (full
story). INFY shares rise by 3.7%.

For more stories as they happen, go to our
Breaking News section.

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Darren Wong
darrenw@tradingmarkets.com

P.S.

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